Miliband says there’s ‘increasing evidence’ war crimes have been committed in Gaza
Turning to Gaza, Miliband said the 7 October attack could not justify what had happened since.
double quotation markOver 70,000 people have been killed, at least 20,000 of them children.
The vast majority of the population is now displaced. Nearly 2 million people, who are now penned into just one third of the territory. Life-saving humanitarian aid and access has been routinely blocked. Hospitals and clinics have been destroyed. Over 60% of homes are in ruins …
International humanitarian law imposes clear rules for states fighting wars, including to ensure access to food and medical supplies to avoid mass displacement of civilians, and to avoid the targeting of civilians.
Serious and international violations of this law, if proven, amount to war crimes.
What has occurred, including the actions of the IDF, have been examined in depth by a number of organisations, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
The conclusions of these reports represent increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed, and we support legal processes to determine this.
Key events
In the Commons, the first backbench MP to be called to speak was Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee. She started with the words: “At last.”
ShareFormer Israeli prime minister says UK’s sanctions announcement ‘unavoidable’ result of ethnic cleansing in West Bank
Emma Graham-Harrison
Emma Graham-Harrison is the Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent
The former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has backed Ed Miliband’s announcement. Olmert told the Guardian:
double quotation markThe British government decision became unavoidable as a result of a continuous effort of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by a large group of Jewish terrorists in the West Bank. The crimes of these terrorists are actively assisted by police and military units over a long period of time. The highest levels of government led by minister of defence Katz and prime minister Netanyahu are actively supporting these terrorists and avoid taking the necessary measures to stop it.
Millions of Israelis are appalled by this terror and are actively resisting the terrorists.
Sanctions are directed against the terrorists not against Israel, and as such they are unavoidable.
Miliband quoted Olmert approvingly in his own statement. (See 1.38pm.)
Updated at 10.03 EDT
UK joins 11 other countries in issuing joint statement backing plans for illegal settlement trade ban
In his statement Miliband said that Canada and France were joining the UK in banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements today. (See 2.02pm.)
But nine other European countries have also said they are considering measures like this.
All 12 countries have issued a joint statement on this. Here is an excerpt.
double quotation markToday, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK confirm their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures. In this regard, the UK, France and Canada welcome the important action already taken by Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium and will bring forward national measures to ban trade in settlement goods.
Together, we are resolute: the two-state solution must be protected, and we will take action in pursuit of a just and lasting peace, based on the principles enshrined in the New York Declaration adopted one year ago. We firmly oppose actions tantamount to the annexation of Palestinian land and forcible displacement of the Palestinian population.
Edward Leigh, the Conservative who, as the longest-serving MP, is father of the Commons, told Miliband he fully supported the announcement.
Leigh said:
double quotation markWhat is happening in the West Bank, is absolutely violent and egregious. It is worse than stopping the two-state solution, it is ethnic cleansing …
I am proud to say, as the longest-serving member of the Conservative Friends of Israel, that I absolutely and fully support what he is doing today, because it is about standing up for freedom, for morality, and justice of all people in this world.
This is not the official Conservative party policy. (See 1.09pm.) But Leigh has always been more pro-Palestinian than most of his colleagues.
Miliband told MPs medical supplies would not be covered by the trade ban affecting the illegal settlements.
After Tom Tugendhat asked if “Parkinson’s, myeloma, and multiple sclerosis patients will still get the drugs that keep them alive”, Miliband replied: “On his point about medical supplies and so on – absolutely, they will be protected.”
ShareMiliband accuses Tories of backing ‘do nothing’ approach to ‘two-state solution being destroyed before our eyes’
In his reply to Tom Tugendhat, Ed Miliband dismissed the shadow foreign secretary’s arguments. He said:
double quotation markThe underlying problem of his position is this. He supports the two-state solution with great vigour. He believes in the two-state solution. He sees the two-state solution being destroyed before our eyes. And I’m afraid his prescription is to do nothing about it.
Miliband also rejected Tugendhat’s claim that the ban would make Israel a pariah state.
double quotation markI utterly reject the idea that we want to make Israel a pariah state. I couldn’t have been more clear in my statement about our friendship with the Israeli people and indeed our wish to have trade with green line Israel.
But, in a sense, you have to take a view about the occupation – if the occupation is illegal, do we want to maintain at the level of principle normal economic relationships? We say no. He apparently says yes, and I think that’s a mistake.
Miliband went on:
double quotation markThere is a choice that we face in this, which is – do we stand by? Are we bystanders to the end of a long-established government policy and indeed the only hope for security and stability in the Middle East, or do we act?
And look, we’ve chosen to act, and I actually think that the country will be with us – most of the country will be with us because we cannot simply stand by.
ShareShadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat accuses Miliband of introducing ban he ‘knows won’t work’
Tom Tugendhat, the new shadow foreign secretary, responded to Ed Miliband on behalf of the Conservative party. He started by saying all MPs could agree that Israeli “settlers have been guilty of outrageous abuses of ordinary Palestinians and crimes against innocent civilians”, but he ended up strongly criticising the announcement.
He said:
double quotation markWe do agree that illegal settlements are wrong.
We all agree that groups of settlers have been guilty of outrageous abuses of ordinary Palestinians and crimes against innocent civilians.
We agree that some Israeli ministers have indulged in hateful propaganda and incitement – we agree that the current path is leading Israelis and Palestinians towards a darker, more dangerous future.
This isn’t about Israel alone and it certainly isn’t about reducing the complexity of the region to a single sentence. Sadly, the Government is in the process of doing just that.
He alleged the government had recognised Palestine “in contravention of the Montevideo Convention”, and warned that it was on Tuesday “enacting policies that the Foreign Office knows won’t work – but it does know they will harm innocents”.
Tugendhat said that he was saying this because, earlier this year, Hamish Falconer and Chris Bryant (Middle East minister and trade minister respectively at the time) wrote to the Commons business committee saying a ban on trade with the occupied territories would not work because “the economies of Palestine and Israel are too interconnected”.
Tugendhat was referring to this letter sent in June. While it raises concerns about a potential trade ban affecting settlements, it is not as negative about the policy as Tugendhat implied.
He went on:
double quotation markThe Israeli election is in just seven weeks and many have argued, correctly, that this action will help the extreme candidates’ campaigns and not help those who are making the moderate argument for a united Israel.
Here is Miliband’s peroration.
double quotation markMy parents came here as Jewish refugees and found sanctuary and a country that stood up for the rule of law, freedom and self-determination.
Those are the values this government is standing up for today.
And I truly believe that the vast majority of the British people, including in our communities with ties to the region, are united in their desire to see humanitarian suffering end, and all sides commit to a durable peace process.
And just as we want Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side, so we have to live out those values in Britain.
Jews in Britain, Muslims in Britain, people of all faiths and none, have a right to live without prejudice or fear.
A Britain that upholds its values at home and around the world. A Britain that fights against oppression and suffering wherever it occurs. A Britain that stands up for what is right.
ShareMiliband says France and Canada also announcing bans on trade with illegal settlements today
Miliband said France and Canada were also banning trade with the illegal settlements today
double quotation markWe act in concert with others in a broad international coalition.
I can tell the house that today France and Canada are announcing alongside Britain that they will also ban the import of goods from illegal settlements, joining the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway.
Other countries were also planning further action, he said.
double quotation markThis is what Britain can achieve, leading with others and this is in our fundamental national interest.
Miliband said the government would do all it could to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.
double quotation markI pledge we will continue to do everything we can to provide all the humanitarian support possible to help the people of Gaza.
UK-supported hospitals in Gaza will enable around 800,000 medical consultations this year, and essential health service health services for patients.
UK expertise will deliver care to over 1,000 child amputees, and we recently welcomed another wave of students from Gaza coming to study in Britain. And we will welcome more.
But in truth, unless Israel changes course, the situation will remain dire.
So we are taking further steps both ourselves and with others, our extension of the global human rights sanctions regime will enable us to target those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law, whether in Gaza or anywhere else in the world. And we will let the UN general assembly in New York later this month shine the clearest and harshest spotlight on what is happening and what must change.
Miliband turned to claims of genocide.
double quotation markOn the question of genocide, the UK has always supported full, robust and fair judicial processes to consider allegations, with final determinations made by competent courts before the British government reaches a conclusion.
This has been the case for all of the genocides since the 1948 Genocide Convention – Rwanda, Srebrenica, Cambodia and acts against the Uyghur people. That will remain our policy.
It is right this issue has been brought before the ICJ, and I want to I want to make it clear that we support the court in coming to its determination.
ShareMiliband says there’s ‘increasing evidence’ war crimes have been committed in Gaza
Turning to Gaza, Miliband said the 7 October attack could not justify what had happened since.
double quotation markOver 70,000 people have been killed, at least 20,000 of them children.
The vast majority of the population is now displaced. Nearly 2 million people, who are now penned into just one third of the territory. Life-saving humanitarian aid and access has been routinely blocked. Hospitals and clinics have been destroyed. Over 60% of homes are in ruins …
International humanitarian law imposes clear rules for states fighting wars, including to ensure access to food and medical supplies to avoid mass displacement of civilians, and to avoid the targeting of civilians.
Serious and international violations of this law, if proven, amount to war crimes.
What has occurred, including the actions of the IDF, have been examined in depth by a number of organisations, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
The conclusions of these reports represent increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed, and we support legal processes to determine this.